Apparitions of the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared six times to three shepherd children near the town of Fatima, Portugal, beginning on May 13, 1917. According to the children, Mary told them she would appear each month and promised a miracle for her final appearance on October 13, 1917, when the "Miracle of the Sun" took place. A century later, the story of Fatima still fascinates. Author and researcher Peter Levenda joined Jimmy Church (email) to discuss the 100-year anniversary of the Fatima story and the enigma surrounding the Third Secret, which was written down by Fatima seer Lúcia Santos in 1944.

The Third Secret was a vision of the death of the Pope, and believed to be about the assassination attempt on John Paul II on May 13, 1981, Levenda explained. The Vatican published Lúcia's four-page, handwritten text related to the Third Secret in 2000, and Lúcia has said it is the entire text, he continued. "My problem with this is... [Lúcia] is deep within the bosom of the Church," Levenda said, suggesting Lúcia is a kind of hostage or prisoner of the Church. "They were not going to let this woman leave the Church... and they don't want her saying things to the public that haven't been vetted by them," he added.

Levenda spoke about the significance of the Fatima visions as they related to the Knights Templar, anti-communist Popes, and Russia. "You have a geopolitic that you have to look at when you look at Fatima... it's part and parcel... of the history of the 20th century," he revealed. Levenda recalled attending Catholic school in the 1950s and praying for the salvation of Russia and consecration of communists. "All we knew was these three girls praying to the Virgin Mother and the Virgin Mother was going to rescue Russia from communism, and we were all supposed to be onboard with that," he said.